Quest Of The Chest
by Scoobyfan1
Summary: This is a sequel to my 13 Ghosts series without Scrappy and with Fred and Velma. Can Scooby and company capture the final ghost from the Demon Chest and his minions or will the world turn into a ghostly nightmare? Pairings: Fred/Daphne, Shaggy/Velma and Flim Flam/Madelyn.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: Author's Notes: Scooby Doo and all related characters and trademarks are copyright 2010 Hanna-Barbera Productions/Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network. I am not making any money off of writing this story, I am just a fan. Also this story is a sequel to my series of stories that are rewrites of each of the 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo episodes without Scrappy and with Fred and Velma; if anyone who reads this story is confused about any of the references or events in this story, please go back and read the aforementioned series of stories as a refresher. Also the inspiration for this story came from the 2003 Disney Direct to Video Movie Atlantis: Milo's Return.

Chapter 1

Our story begins at an ancient looking castle nestled among a lush forest, unlike several years ago when something quite unusual happened at the castle, which was well publicized and almost ruined the castle's reputation, in addition to nearly closing the castle permanently, things are quite peaceful and serene.

Normally the above sentence would sound a little weird or bizarre to most people, but in reality this statement makes as much sense as anything else in the world; because unknown to most people, the castle is home to the Merlin Brothers Academy Of Magic, one of the world's foremost schools for magicians and the study of stage magic, the academy is run by a pair of brothers named Whirlen and Marlon Merlin and has flourished in the several years that have passed since the appearance of a Griffin nearly shut down the school, but thankfully for the brothers and staff of the school, one of their students happened to be the younger sister of a member of the world famous Mystery Inc. detective agency.

After receiving a call from her mother, the bespectacled member of the group Velma Dinkley and the rest of the gang traveled to the castle to unravel the mystery behind the strange appearance of the Griffin, which they did as usual; after performing at the re-opening of the school, Madelyn Dinkley, the aforementioned younger sister of Velma was able to relax, not having to worry about any monsters or creatures attacking the school ever again, or so she thought.

Wearing her pink tinted glasses, maroon colored dress with white sleeves, white pants and gray shoes, Madelyn sat at a small desk in one of the student dorm rooms of the castle, with a black pen in hand writing in a brown leather bound book; after doing that for a few minutes she closed the book, put it away in the desk, and walked back towards the other side of the room; Madelyn then approached her bed and decided to lay down in it and take a short nap, while she laid down she smiled and sighed, thinking about how wonderful it was to be studying stage magic and more importantly how great it was to be Velma's younger sister; however, very soon she would join Scooby and company and her older sister yet again, and this time they would encounter a mystery that would be much worse than the mystery they encountered the last time they saw Madelyn, in fact if this mystery wasn't solved, it would mean the end of the world and the end of man kind as we know it.

However as she lay back down she was unaware that a dark sinister presence was beginning to cover and envelop every inch of the forest and the grounds that surrounded the castle; for the moment the strange presence seemed to be miles away from the Merlin Brothers Academy, but within a matter of moments it began get closer and closer, and soon it would reach the ancient castle and invade the school, that is unless something could be done about it and judging by the progression of the darkness, something might have needed to be done about it soon.

Meanwhile thousands of miles away inside the grounds of a luxury condominium resort in the Southwestern United States, three familiar figures walk along one of the numerous dirt pathways that criss cross the grounds of the resort; one is a dark brown haired young woman dressed in an orange shirt, red shorts and red sandals, and wearing black horn rimmed glasses, the second is a young man with sandy light brown hair wearing a light green shirt, dark blue shorts and black sandals; the third figure is a somewhat large Great Dane with brown fur and black spots, he wears a dark blue collar around his neck with a blue and gold dog tag with the letters SD on it and looks somewhat content as he follows closely behind the other two figures; while the three figures might look like regular people to the untrained eye, they are actually quite famous, as a matter of fact the three figures are Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo, three members of the world famous detective agency.

Having solved several dozen very difficult cases in the past few months, Scooby Doo and the rest of Mystery Inc. reached somewhat of a consensus and decided to take a break from solving mysteries, in this case the five sleuths are taking a well deserved vacation, this time in the state of Arizona, specifically in the small town of Sedona, located in the Northern portion of the state; all the while the five sleuths were hoping that this vacation didn't turn into a mystery as most of their vacations usually did.

However, now unlike years ago when the two young adults began solving mysteries, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to have a vacation turn into a mystery; especially since Shaggy and Velma had started dating some time ago, while both of them didn't like solving mysteries while on vacation when the quartet of detectives plus one began their career of solving cases, both for various reasons: Velma, because she never wanted to think a lot while on a vacation, and Shaggy, well Shaggy never wanted to encounter ghosts or monsters during vacations, and as a result he would always want to spend vacations eating as much as possible.

But since the two young adults had started going out, which went well enough that the relationship eventually resulted in them becoming girlfriend and boyfriend, they found themselves enjoying vacations more and more, partly because whenever either the six of them or just Shaggy and Velma in some cases went on vacation they managed to spend as much time with each other as humanly possible, which is what they were doing as the mid afternoon sun shone brilliantly overhead.

"Shaggy?" Velma asked, as her arm locked around the arm of her green shirted companion.

"Yes Velma?" Shaggy replied.

"This is great isn't it? Having some time to ourselves, well that and spending time with the gang; but now when we spend time together it seems like it's more than just four friends and their dog solving mysteries and just hanging out, ever since we started dating it feels like we've become much more than friends, it really seems like we've become closer and closer to one another" Velma said, looking into the cowardly sleuth's eyes and smiling all the while at him.

"Actually this is pretty nice, I mean spending time with you is one of my favorite things in the entire world Velma, well other than eating and maybe watching horror movies" Shaggy replied, smiling back at her.

"I still can't believe you and Scooby like watching horror movies, I mean I would think that running from ghosts and monsters on a regular basis would turn you and Scooby off of watching horror movies" Velma remarked.

"Velma, as long as Scooby and I get to relax at home on our own sofa, with popcorn, soft drinks and maybe candy, I could watch Psycho and it probably wouldn't matter, right Scoob?" Shaggy said.

"Reah, ri rove ratching rovies at home" the Great Dane replied.

"That reminds me Shaggy, is Scooby still okay with you and me being a couple?" Velma asked.

"Like I've told you before, of course he's okay with the two of us dating; why wouldn't he be?" Shaggy responded, sounding somewhat confused.

"Well when you had a crush on my sister didn't he have a hissy fit, and wasn't he annoyed that you weren't paying attention to him?" Velma replied with a question of her own.

"Like don't be ridiculous Velma, he loved the fact that Madelyn and I were seeing a lot of each other" Shaggy said.

"Okay I guess I'll give you that one, but what about when you were dating Googie and Rachel and every other single girl you've known who wasn't me or Crystal?" Velma asked.

"Well..." Shaggy said, attempting to think of something that wouldn't cause Velma to hit him upside the head, or worse.

"Well what?" Velma asked.

"You know I haven't really addressed that with Scoob, although whenever I have a bad date I usually talk to him anyway and believe me I've had plenty of those in my life" Shaggy replied.

"And what does Scooby usually say during the time that you talk to him?" Velma asked.

"He usually says don't worry about it, you'll find somebody that likes you for who you are, or something like that" Shaggy replied.

"Oh really?" Velma said after her folding her arms and raising her eyebrows.

"Okay I made that part up, but he is nice to talk to when I've had a bad date" Shaggy replied.

"Um Shaggy, shouldn't you be talking to someone besides Scooby when you have a problem in your love life" Velma remarked.

"Like who else could I talk to, my parents are living in Massachusetts; I rarely talk to my relatives any more, well sometimes I do, but they usually give me the same advice that I said that Scooby gives me, although he doesn't really give me advice like that, I made it up" Shaggy explained.

"Obviously" Velma replied, still sounding annoyed with her boyfriend.

"Oh come on Velma, who am I supposed to go to for advice in romance? Daphne, Fred, Vincent Van Ghoul? Okay, okay I'm kidding about Vincent but still, who am I supposed to go to for advice?" Shaggy asked.

"How about, well me?" Velma answered.

"You? why would I go to my girl..." Shaggy said before stopping in mid-sentence, knowing that if he said any more Velma would very likely never speak to him again.

"You were going to say why would I go to my girlfriend for advice on dating right?" Velma asked, now slightly exasperated with the cowardly teen.

"Like right, but how did you know what I was going to say?" Shaggy asked.

"Trust me, when you've been dating someone as long as I've been dating you, I've learned to figure things like that out; but I can understand why you wouldn't want to go to your girlfriend for advice on romance, I mean it is kind of weird" Velma replied.

"That's not why I was going to say that at all, the reason why I was going to say that was because, well because it's kind of unusual to talk to someone who you're dating and who for all intensive purposes you're in love with for romance advice" Shaggy responded.

Velma looked a bit puzzled by this statement, but eventually realized that what he was saying might have had some credence to it, after all he had been right about many things in the past in regards to mysteries, so maybe he was right this time; so with no other options and realizing full well that he might be correct Velma responded to Shaggy's comment.

"Shaggy, it doesn't matter if you're in love with someone or not, if you have someone who's a good enough friend then they'll want to give you advice, no matter what the subject; okay, sure we're boyfriend and girlfriend but it doesn't that we still can't give each other advice, especially when it comes to romance and dating, right?" Velma asked, as she held the cowardly teen's now trembling hands.

"Like I guess, I guess you're right; although I don't think I need that much romantic advice for now, I mean I do have the perfect girlfriend" Shaggy said as he held Velma's hand tightly.

"Neither do I, and by the way I have the perfect boyfriend too" Velma said, now blushing a bright scarlet color.

With that being said Velma and Shaggy continued their walk through the posh resort complex, meanwhile in another portion of the complex, specifically in the area that contained the pool a blond haired young man wearing blue shorts with orange trim sat lounging in a deck chair reading a mystery novel, while next to him in another deck chair sat a young red haired woman wearing a purple bikini and flower print towel around her waist; at the moment she was just enjoying the Arizona sunshine, although every couple of minutes she looked over at the blond man and smiled at him with great affection, naturally he smiled back which made sense considering they were boyfriend and girlfriend, and not only that but they were also members of Mystery Inc. in addition to Shaggy, Velma and Scooby.

The blond young man was Fred Jones, unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. and according to some people the brains of the outfit, but of course he didn't or couldn't take all the credit for Mystery Inc.'s success, that was shared among the five members of the group, which included the young woman sitting next to Fred whose name was Daphne Blake and who's father's wealth has immensely helped the group of sleuths over the years.

Things really couldn't be better for the pair of sleuths, they were in love and knew nothing would ever separate them, plus they were world famous and had solved who knows how many mysteries over the years, overall things were fairly quiet and low key at the moment; well quiet except for the black haired young man wearing yellow swim trunks splashing around in the water and calling out to the young man and woman every so often.

"Fred, Daphne, watch this!" the young man yelled as he stepped onto the diving board at the side of the pool, he then climbed a small step ladder and stood on the board, a few moments later he dove into the pool while managing to perform a perfect cannonball, which made quite a nice splash which of course annoyed some of the fellow swimmers.

"That's very good Flim Flam dear" Daphne said as she spoke to the young man in the pool.

"You weren't watching were you?" the young man replied.

"Of course we were Flim Flam, that was very cool, just make sure and stay out of trouble, and please try not to splash the other people in the pool, we don't want to get kicked out of the resort" Fred remarked.

"I know dad, I know" the young man replied as he resumed swimming.

The black haired young man wearing yellow swim trunks was Flim Flam, a young Asian former con artist and trickster who Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby first encountered when they took a trip to Hawaii in the gang's private plane the Mystery Flying Machine, however Mystery Inc. didn't make it to Hawaii, in fact they made a wrong turn and ended up in the Himalayas where two evil spirits took the gang's plane and hid it inside an ancient temple.

The gang eventually got their plane back but not without incident, in this case Shaggy and Scooby were tricked into opening a chest containing the 13 foulest, most evil, most threatening ghosts, ghouls, phantoms and spirits in the world; while they were in the village however they were sidetracked by the citizens of said village, who had the unfortunate curse of transforming into werewolves every night. While the gang did open the sinister container known as the Chest of Demons, they weren't alone in their quest to track down the sinister specters, they were joined by a powerful wizard and mystic named Vincent Van Ghoul, who they met in the small Tibetan village, which is where they also met the young man named Flim Flam who was currently swimming in the pool.

Flim Flam was an orphan whose parents died when he was six years old, they had lived in Southeast Asia with the young boy until they were killed when a Typhoon ravaged his home country; left without a home or parents, Flim Flam eventually bounced around from Orphanage to Orphanage eventually landing in the village of Urslvania, where he ran afoul of the local authorities because of his own invention called Lotsa Luck Joy Juice, which proved to be quite useful for the gang in turning Daphne back to normal after she fell under the werewolf curse.

For many years Flim Flam trained under the powerful mystic and warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul in sorcery and magic, as well as ever single thing that the great wizard knew about the supernatural and the macabre, which could fill as many volumes as were stored in the Library of Congress.

Flim Flam trained under Vincent for quite some time, that is until one day when he spoke to Fred and Daphne regarding the young orphan; while Flim Flam considered Vincent to be as close as authority or father figure as he had since his parents died, in truth Vincent realized that while his guidance was good for the young man, he really needed a mother and father, so he made the decision to find one, the only problem was who would it be?

One September evening, Daphne received a phone call; at first she was a bit perplexed by who was calling her, but once Vincent explained what was going and what he needed she called Fred and the two of them began speaking to Vincent; the warlock then explained that Flim Flam needed parents and that through his past experiences with the gang, it seemed like the blond haired young man and the red haired young woman would make the perfect parents.

However Fred and Daphne tried to reason with the warlock saying that maybe there was someone else that could be the young orphan's guardians, but Vincent persisted saying that Fred and Daphne were the only option; despite some protests by both the teen's parents saying that they were too young to be parents, and they were still technically kids, the two sleuths agreed with Vincent saying that it was the only option for Flim Flam to have a good upbringing, so despite the pair's parents still not completely agreeing to the idea, Daphne's father through his attorneys drew up the proper paperwork and on a late October day at the Coolsville County Courthouse, adoption papers were officially filed and Flim Flam became the son of Fred Jones and Daphne Blake.

Since they adopted their young companion, the red haired beauty and the blond man were the best parents a son could ever have; one of the first activities the young couple's new son participated in was the city of Coolsville's annual Halloween party and costume contest sponsored naturally by Daphne's parents, which the young man found enjoyable considering it was probably one of the first, if not the first Halloween that the youngster was able to celebrate.

Flim Flam, as you might expect wore an exact copy of Vincent's cloak as a Halloween costume for the party, right down to the exact same mustache as the warlock; even though Vincent didn't make an appearance at the party, even though it was Halloween, the gang was able to set up a video stream of the event which the warlock was able to watch at his castle.

When Vincent spoke to the young boy, he couldn't have been prouder of him; he had worn the exact same outfit as Vincent Van Ghoul, not to mention he had probably two of the most perfect parents any kid could ever have, who were also quite proud of him; several of the gang's old friends also appeared at the party, including the Hex Girls who took time out from one of their tours to perform, as well as a few of the gang's aunts and uncles, and a few miscellaneous friends from the various mysteries the group had solved over the years.

Thanksgiving was also quite wonderful for Flim Flam as he was able to celebrate the holiday with his best friends from Mystery Inc. in addition to each of his friends' parents who came to Coolsville for the holiday; many more holidays followed and each of them were celebrated by Mystery Inc. along with their newest member: Flim Flam, who was quite thankful that he had real parents for the first time in many years.

Now he was taking part in one of the gang's favorite activities: taking a vacation, which unlike many other times before, hadn't turned into a mystery quite yet, although there was plenty of time for that to change; as the youngster continued to swim around in the resort's pool he looked over at his new parents, smiled and then waved as they continued to keep a close eye on him, as they didn't want anything to happen to their adopted son.

"Freddie?" Daphne asked, raising her sunglasses to look over at her boyfriend.

"Yes Daphne?" Fred answered, after placing the book he was reading on his lap.

"It's a beautiful day isn't it?" Daphne asked.

"Sure is Daphne, it sure is; and you know something, I don't think things could be going any better; we're officially parents, we're on vacation and best of all no mysteries" Fred replied.

"I can agree with that, I'm so glad that for the first time in for who knows how long, we actually are going to have a restful vacation, with no ghosts, ghouls or any villains to chase or unmask" Daphne remarked.

"Yep, needless to say I think this is the perfect day; absolutely nothing could go wrong" Fred replied.

However, unbeknownst to Scooby Doo and his friends, approximately several thousand miles away at the Merlin Brothers Magic Academy something was indeed about to go wrong; the sinister presence that surrounded the school was slowly creeping into the grounds of the school, although at the moment the co-owners/operators of the school didn't seem to notice what was going on, actually as luck would have it, the two Merlin brothers were in a room that served as the school's office and were looking over recent enrollments at the academy, which had skyrocketed since the Griffin incident some time back.

"Amazing, simply amazing!" the younger of the brothers, Whirlen Merlin remarked.

"What's so amazing?" the elder of the brothers, Marlon Merlin asked as he walked over to where his brother was sitting.

"Take a look at this Marlon, during the last six months we've seen an increase of enrollments here ten fold, it's simply remarkable; so many young people want to study magic and illusions here since Madelyn's sister and her friends solved the mystery of the Griffin" Whilen Merlin replied as he showed his brother a black leather bound book with hundreds upon hundreds of pages of ledger type paper inside.

"My, my you're certainly right Whirlen, it's simply magical for lack of a better phrase; by the way, how is Madelyn doing with her studies?" Marlon asked.

"Good so far, she's near the top of her class in all of the courses she's taking; actually come to think of it, she told me something interesting involving magic some time back" Whirlen replied.

"Like what?" Marlon asked.

"Well she said that her sister's two friends Fred and Daphne adopted a young boy named Flim Flam, and that this Flim Flam studied real magic under an actual warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul many years ago, in addition Fred studied to be a warlock as well, and as I understand it he's very good" Whirlen explained.

"My my, you don't say; I never knew real magic existed, I mean I guess I was aware that it existed, but I didn't know much about it until you just told me, so how is this young man named Flim Flam doing?" Marlon asked.

"From what Madelyn told me, he's doing great; actually I wouldn't mind meeting with Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim Flam some day, maybe I can have Madelyn teach them a little about stage magic and maybe the two of them can teach us about sorcery and real magic" Whirlen replied.

"That's not a bad idea at all brother, I wouldn't mind that myself; maybe we'll be able to set up a time for us to meet with Flim Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul" Marlon commented.

Suddenly a strange voice, unseen to the brothers began speaking; the co-operators of the magic school weren't quite sure at first where the voice was coming from, so they scanned the room looking for the source of the voice, although soon they would find out just who they were speaking to.

Author's Notes: For the purposes of this story and in regards to the plot, I decided to make Madelyn and Flim Flam about the same age, probably around 15-16 years old or so, give or take a year; also in this story I'm toying with the idea of Flim Flam and Madelyn being a couple, however if they weren't the same age then it probably wouldn't work out all that well, so that's why I decided have them the same age.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Inside the small room of the Whirlen Brothers Magic Academy that served as the school's office, the co-heads of the school: the famous illusionist Whirlen Merlin and his brothers Marlon Merlin listened intently as a strange voice spoke to them; finally the elder of the brothers decided that enough was enough and that he wished whoever was speaking would become known to the pair.

"Just who are you and what do you want?" Whirlen asked, seemingly speaking to thin air.

"Whirlen Merlin, you call yourself the greatest illusionist of all time, but yet you can't remember the conversation you had with your brother only a few moments ago?" the voice said; a few seconds later, the brothers noticed that a mysterious green glow began appearing in the room, which made them both quite nervous as you might expect.

The two brothers gasped as they backed up towards the door of the room, not knowing quite what to expect of the mysterious glow that was making an appearance only a few feet away from them; then finally the glow formed into what seemed to be a person, this individual had gray hair, was wearing what looked to be a black cloak with red trim and wore an emerald pendant around his neck as he smiled at the two brothers.

"There we are, looks like I'm all here and in one piece too; you know sometimes I'm not sure of where I'll end up, and considering I'm getting along in years, that might not be such a good thing; so do the two of you recognize me now?" the figure said as he examined himself, making sure he wasn't missing anything important.

Both Whirlen and Marlon Merlin stared at the figure for what seemed to be hours, but in reality it was only a few minutes, however once they got a good look a the figure the brothers were able to place him, or at least one of them was.

"Vincent Van Ghoul? Is that you?" Whirlen asked with a somewhat unsure tone in his voice.

"Who were you expecting Houdini? Of course it's me, after all you just spoke about me a few minutes ago" Vincent replied.

"Well I'll be a rabbit's uncle, Vincent Van Ghoul it is you! What brings you here to our fine Academy?" Whirlen asked as he shook the elderly warlock's hand.

"Business of course, and I'm surprised you recognized me; although I'm guessing Velma's sister has told you about me?" Vincent asked.

"That's correct Vincent, or should I call you Mr. Van Ghoul?" Whirlen questioned.

"Vincent will be fine, Mr. Van Ghoul is so formal" Vincent replied.

"So what business has brought you all the way here Vincent?" Whirlen asked.

"Well first, I'm assuming that Madelyn has told you about Flim Flam and I, as well as Velma and her friends' adventures with the Chest of Demons some time ago?" Vincent asked.

"Yes she has mentioned you and Flim Flam; I think she mentioned the Chest of Demons, but I'm not sure, what about it?" Whirlen answered.

"According to my spectral charts and the electronic equipment in my castle, the final four ghosts from the chest are on the loose and I have reason to believe they may congregate on this school" Vincent explained.

"But why Vincent? What could the ghosts from the Demon Chest possibly want here?" Whirlen asked.

"To explain that, I need to speak with Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo immediately and the only place to do that is here at this very castle, before it is taken over by a creature so evil, so nightmarish, that he has no name" Vincent explained, sounding as serious as an undertaker.

"Well then we'll contact Madelyn's sister and her friends right now, I just hope we can contact them while there's still time" Whirlen replied.

"I hope so too Whirlen, because if we cannot, the world as we know it will be in danger so unspeakable, I can't even begin to think about it or describe it" Vincent said.

"Very well, I'll get to the telephone and call Miss Dinkley immediately" Whirlen replied.

With that Whirlen Merlin walked over to the other side of the room, sat down at a wooden desk and opened the top drawer of it; he then pulled out a piece of paper with the elder of the Dinkley sisters phone number on it, once he did that he took the phone that was sitting on the desk off the hook and began dialing the number that was listed for the intelligent teenager, hoping that he would be able to reach her in time, while outside of the castle the sinister presence that surrounded the school continued to spread.

Meanwhile in Arizona, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby were taking a short break from their walk as they had decided to sit on a bench in front of the resort's registration building; right now Shaggy was taking a drink from the water bottle he brought with him while he softly petted his cowardly Great Dane with the other hand, however any time the three of them were spending relaxing would soon end as the three sleuths began hearing a faint ringing noise coming from somewhere, although Shaggy, Velma and Scooby weren't quite sure where it was coming from.

"Jinkies, isn't that your cell phone Shaggy?" Velma asked.

"Like I don't think so, actually isn't that your cell phone ring tone?" Shaggy answered.

"You know Shaggy, I think it might just be mine; hang on, I think I have it somewhere in one of the pockets of my shorts" Velma said, rummaging around for her cell phone, finally she found the device, but when she looked at the front of it, she instantly recognized the number and realized that the gang's vacation might end sooner than she expected.

"Jinkies, its Whirlen Merlin! I wonder what he wants, considering we haven't spoken in quite a while" Velma exclaimed.

"Like does that mean what I think it means?" Shaggy asked, somewhat nervously.

"It's certainly possible Shaggy, although I guess I should talk to him and see what's going on" Velma replied.

So with that Velma put the phone up to her right ear and began speaking; on the other end of the phone Whirlen Merlin began explaining to her the very same situation that had been explained to him by Vincent Van Ghoul, needless to say Velma was surprised, shocked and most all of all scared by what the head of the Merlin Brothers Academy of Magic told her.

The bespectacled teenager then took the cell phone away from her ear for a few moments to completely process what Whirlen Merlin had just told her, although considering the gang's history with Vincent Van Ghoul and the infamous Chest of Demons it wasn't going to be that easy to think about it.

Velma stood in the Arizona sunshine absolutely petrified of the thought of the Merlin Brothers Academy possibly being under attack from the final few specters from the Demon Chest, although what frightened her the most was the fact that her sister might be in danger as well; Shaggy noticed that she had a terrified look on her face, and it was clear to him that the reason she was so frightened was because of what might be occurring at the Merlin Brothers school and what might be happening with Madelyn.

The bespectacled teenager then put the phone back up to her ear in order to hear more about what might be happening thousands of miles away; once Whirlen Merlin was finished with his explanation Velma told him that she would inform her friends about what was happening and that she and the rest of the gang would be at the castle as soon as possible; with all that said, Velma flipped her cell phone into the closed position, then took a deep breath and spoke again.

"I c-can't believe it, I just can't believe it; I thought we were all done with the Chest of Demons, and now, now…" Velma said, although soon enough she became speechless and her hands shook a little as she spoke; Shaggy and Scooby both looked concerned for their comrade so the cowardly teen walked over to where she was standing and made an attempt to comfort her in her time of need.

"Velma, like I know what you're going through and I never thought we would have to deal with that stupid chest again, but I guess we were all wrong; since all this stuff started, now I really wish Scooby and I opened the chest at all, because of our cowardice and stupidity there's a real chance Madelyn could, well I don't want to even get into it" Shaggy replied, as he put a hand on Velma's shoulder and tried to somehow, someway calm her down.

"Shaggy, no one knew what was in that chest until it was too late and even you and Scooby couldn't stop yourselves from opening it; heck I didn't even know what was in that chest until Vincent Van Ghoul told us about it, so how could we avoid what was going to happen?" Velma remarked.

"Come on Velma, like I could have done something, Scooby could have done something, we both could have just walked away from that temple, took the plane, left and we could have gone on with our lives; we could have never had to deal with the 13 Ghosts, but we didn't, and now your sister and the entire Merlin Brothers school is in danger again" Shaggy replied, although Velma could tell that he had a look of anger on his face and was beating himself up inside for opening the demonic crimson box which contained the most evil, most sinister and worst ghosts, ghouls and specters on the planet.

"Shaggy, what's done is done; you can't do anything about the chest, I can't do anything about the chest, no one can do a single thing about it, end of story; now what we have to do is finish what we started: we have to get Fred and Daphne and travel to the castle and trap the final few ghosts that are lurking around before they take over the world and do who knows what to Madelyn" Velma explained, sounding quite serious.

"Right Velma, we're going to make those ghosts vanish once and for all, and if they even try and pull anything we'll trap them in the Chest of Demons" Shaggy replied, also sounding deadly serious, although for him it was as if he had a personality transplant, which surprised even Velma a little.

"Shaggy, I-I've never seen you like this, you sound really serious about this, I mean are you really sure you want to do this?" Velma asked.

"Yes Velma, I'm serious; I know that together, the five of us are going to solve this mystery once and for all, right Scooby?" Shaggy responded, somewhat bravely.

"R-ri ruess ro" Scooby replied, although he was still unsure about facing off against the last of the ghosts from the Demon Chest.

"Come on Scooby, I know that you're brave enough to take on anything, much less a few silly ghosts, so what do you say Scooby Doo, will you help us beat the ghosts?" Shaggy asked.

"Rell, rokay, ror Radelyn" Scooby replied.

"Good for you Scooby, now come on let's tell Fred and Daphne what's going on and get going, because the longer we spend here, then there's more of a chance that once we get to O' Flannery Castle, well like I said before I don't want to think about it" Velma remarked.

So with that Scooby, Shaggy and Velma headed for the pool area of the resort and a rendezvous with Fred, Daphne and Flim Flam; after about ten minutes of walking the trio of sleuths picked up the red head, the blond teen and their young companion, and after that six of them headed back to their respective condos, Fred, Daphne and Flim Flam took the opportunity to change their clothes.

After the trio of sleuths took care of their wardrobe changes, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby brought them up to speed on what Merlin Whirlen had told the bespectacled teen over the phone earlier in the day; once Velma told Flim Flam, Fred and Daphne what was happening and why they needed to leave the resort, each of the members of Mystery Inc. packed up their belongings and together the gang headed for the main check-in building of the resort, after the gang checked out they headed for the Mystery Machine and within five minutes the team of mystery solving was on the road again heading for O' Flannery Castle and a return trip to the Whirlen Brothers Academy of Magic.

While he knew all about Vincent Van Ghoul and the Chest of Demons because he was there, Flim Flam wasn't quite sure what the gang was talking about when they begun mentioning Madelyn and the Merlin Brothers academy, so the youngest of the team of sleuths decided to ask the rest of his friends about the both the sinister box and the gang's warlock acquaintance.

"Hey Daph, I mean mom?" Flim Flam asked.

"Yes Flim Flam and you can call me Daphne if you want, or you can call me mom, I don't really have a preference" the red head replied as she looked towards the back of the van and the young magician/con artist, or former con artist as the case may be.

"Okay; would you guys mind if I ask you a question?" Flim Flam questioned.

"Not at all Flimmie" Daphne replied with a smile on her face, calling the youngster by his nickname, which the red head had bestowed upon him some time back.

"Go right ahead Flim Flam, I don't mind either" Fred added.

"Cool; well, it's about what you guys were talking about earlier, about the Merlin Brothers academy and this castle" Flim Flam replied.

"Well, what would you like to know about it?" Daphne asked.

"For starters, what's the story behind this place any way and what kind of mystery did you guys solve at this place?" Flim Flim wondered.

"Well, it all started one day after we solved a mystery at a chemical company…" Daphne said as she began explaining what happed during the mystery the gang put down in their files as The Mystery of the Magical Griffin; during the time that Daphne told Flim Flam about that particular mystery, the young boy learned about the heads of the school, the various staff, the students and in particular Madelyn Dinkley, Velma's sister; however when Flim Flam decided to ask more about Madelyn, Velma took over the explanation, which made Daphne happy because she was able to take a breath and relax.

Once Daphne and Velma were finished telling the youngster about their adventure at the magic school, the youngest member found himself in sheer awe at the excitement, danger and mystery the gang faced when they were solving the griffin mystery; it soon became apparent that Flim Flam was very happy about hearing about the case, not to mention he soon told the girls that he wished he could have been at the castle; naturally Daphne and Velma told the young man that he would have done great and would have loved the castle, although he didn't really need to join the gang in their mystery involving the griffin because he was about to experience the castle for the first time.

After driving through who knows how many different terrains, the Mystery Machine driven by Fred found it's way through the familiar forest that surrounded the grounds of the magic school/castle easily, soon after that the famous van of Mystery Inc. came upon the same road that they had traveled several years before on their way to the castle the first time; of course Fred was able to navigate the road easily just as he did during the gang's previous visit and within a few minutes the gang parked outside the ancient structure that was the Merlin Brothers Academy of Magic.

"Wow, what a cool old castle; not as cool as Vincent's but still..." Flim Flam remarked, gazing at the building after the gang exited the vehicle; meanwhile inside the castle, Whirlen Merlin's former stage assistant Crystal walked into the room where Whirlen, Marlon and Vincent waiting for the gang, Whirlen noticed that the young lady was inside the doorway and inquired as to her reason for being in the room.

"Oh hello Crystal, I didn't see you there, what's up?" Whirlen asked.

"Well I was out walking Vernon and I noticed that the van of Madelyn Dinkley's sister and her friends is here Whirlen, did you send for them?" Crystal asked.

"Yes I did, oh and by the way before we go greet them I want you to meet a friend of mine, well actually a friend of Madelyn's sisters': Crystal, this is Vincent Van Ghoul, one of the world's greatest wizards" Whirlen said as he introduced the gray haired warlock.

"Well, it's certainly nice to meet you, Crystal was it?" Vincent asked as he walked over to where she was standing.

"Yes it is, and it's very nice to meet you Mr. Van Ghoul" Crystal replied.

"Excellent, sometimes I'm not very good with names, but in other cases I can remember someone's name in no time flat; by the way, may I say you look very lovely Crystal" Vincent remarked as he kissed the woman's right hand.

"Why thank you Mr. Van Ghoul that was very nice of you to say" Crystal said, although her face was blushing a bit as she spoke.

"Think nothing of it my dear, during my years of practicing magic and the mystic arts I have learned to respect people and to treat people with manners, including strangers" Vincent replied.

"That's very kind of you to say Mr. Van Ghoul, and I do agree, those are wonderful qualities" Crystal said.

"Well, now that we're all acquainted we should really greet our guests; come everyone to the front door!" Whirlen declared.

So with that he, his brother, Crystal and Vincent Van Ghoul walked out of the brothers' office, through a couple hallways and a corridor before arrive at the inside of the front door; back outside the castle Scooby and friends were waiting to enter the structure, however they forgot one thing: the last time they visited they had to say a few magic words to enter the castle, so they decided to try again and once again with the words Open Sesame the large wooden door to the amazing school opened; standing at the doorway to the castle to greet them were the Merlin brothers, Crystal and of course Vincent Van Ghoul who looked pleased to see the gang again, and especially Flim Flam.

"Flim Flam my boy!" Vincent declared as he ran over and hugged the young man.

"Vincent! Man is it great to see you again, how have you been doing?" Flim Flam asked.

"Fine Flim Flam, fine; now I'm sure you and the gang have a hundred questions to ask about why I have summoned you all here, but first we must get inside, all of us and quickly" Vincent said; naturally the teen sleuths and Scooby complied with his request and within a manner of moments, everyone was safely inside the castle.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, just what is going on and where's Madelyn? Is she safe?" Velma asked, fearing the worst about her sister.

"Madelyn is fine Velma, in fact before you arrived the Merlin brothers informed me of her progress and I must say I'm quite impressed" Vincent replied.

"Thank you Mr. Van Ghoul, that was nice of you to say, now what's all this about the Demon Chest and the 13 Ghosts?" Velma asked.

"All will be answered in due time Velma, but first I need to get the staff of the school together and that includes Miss Madelyn" Vincent replied.

"But like why do you need to see Madelyn, Mr. Van Ghoul?" Shaggy questioned.

"Well Shaggy, if my theories are correct that Madelyn is in as much danger as any of the other people in the castle and she may need protection" Vincent remarked.

"Like what?" Shaggy inquired.

"I'll explain everything as soon as we gather up the staff of the castle, now Whirlen, Marlon and Crystal, I want you to find all the students and bring them to the Merlin Brothers office and that includes Madelyn Dinkley" Vincent said.

"Right Vincent, we're on our way" Whirlen said as he disappeared with one of his trademark smoke screen exits.

Now Scooby Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma nad Vincent Van Ghoul were alone; however in reality they were not alone, as the sinister presence continued to watch over the school like a hawk from the trees some distance away, soon though he would strike and take over the school, which would be the first step to world conquest for he and his minions from the demonic crimson container which Vincent Van Ghoul possessed at the current time; however, in addition to the chest, the sinister presence also needed something else to take over the world, something that if the group of sleuths known as Mystery Inc. found first, would mean curtains for the evil presence and would mean a return trip back to the Chest of Demons where he once resides for all eternity.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Fifteen minutes had passed since the team from Mystery Inc. arrived back at the Merlin Brothers Magic Academy, which was the scene of one of the gang's most unusual cases: one involving a strange griffin which turned out to be nothing more than a large puppet, of course the gang didn't think there was a real griffin at all and thanks to their sleuthing skills, the school was saved, but now there was a another mystery to solve, and this time it wouldn't be as simple as just a phony griffin puppet, this time it was something much more sinister and much worse than then what the gang encountered during their last visit to the school.

Whirlen Merlin, Marlon Merlin, Crystal, and the rest of the school's staff were able to round up all the students at the school, with the exception of one that is; however at the moment the more pressing issue was with why Vincent had called the team of detectives back to the Merlin Brothers Academy and what kind of mystery the gang was in fore this time; with the skill of a teacher, Whirlen Merlin silenced the voices of each person inside the school's office, many of whom had pressing questions about what kind of danger the school could be facing this time.

"Now if everyone will pay attention, we can get started; pupils and staff, this is Mr. Vincent Van Ghoul, a real life wizard and he has informed me that this school is in great peril from the last of the 13 Ghosts from a container known as the Chest of Demons" Whirlen explained.

Most of the students and staff members gasped, whispered to each other and said various other things to one another after Vincent Van Ghoul explained the situation to the occupants of the castle; once the wizard had clarified about the danger that was about to befall the school, he had Whirlen Merlin inform the students and staff to return to their rooms and begin packing immediately, he then explained that if most of the students wanted to go home, the staff would arrange for their parents or guardians to pick them up, while Whirlen then explained that Vincent Van Ghoul had room in his castle and any students who wanted to join him, were more than welcome to.

Whirlen then mentioned that the staff of the school were to report to Vincent's castle after packed their belongings; naturally, Vincent would open up his abode as a safe house so to speak for the staff to stay, that is until they danger passed, with all that said the students of the school began heading back to their rooms to begin packing for wherever they were going to go, meanwhile the Merlin Brothers, the other staff members of the school which included Crystal, in addition to Vincent Van Ghoul stood in the small office waiting for the bespectacled teenager's sister to come down, although at the moment they had been waiting for at least fifteen minutes, maybe longer, which concerned the gang to no end.

"Jinkies, I wonder where Madelyn could be? It's not like her to be late for things, especially something like this" Velma said.

"Like don't worry Vel, I know she'll be here" Shaggy replied as he put a comforting hand on the intelligent teen's shoulder.

"I really hope so Shaggy, I really hope so, I just don't w ant anything to happen to her" Velma said, tearing up a little as she spoke.

"Like Velma, I know Madelyn and she will be here" Shaggy replied.

Scooby and company continued to wait anxiously for the bespectacled teen's sister, hoping that nothing ghostly or sinister happened to her; luckily for the gang, especially for Velma, they were about to receive their answer.

A few moments later the gang could hear footsteps echoing through the castle, soon the source of the footsteps began approaching the office and within a manner of about five minutes, the door opened and standing at the doorway was Madelyn Dinkley, which made Velma very happy, in fact she was so happy that her sister was okay she ran over and hugged her to no end.

"Madelyn!" Velma exclaimed.

"Velma!" Madelyn replied.

"Boy I am I glad to see you, when I got the call from Whirlen Merlin I started imagining all sorts of horrible things that might have happened if we hadn't gotten here in time" Velma said as tears came out of her eyes.

"Like its okay Velma, its okay, we're here and Madelyn's all right, everything will be okay" Shaggy replied, after he wrapped his arms around her waist and began comforting her with a warm hug.

"I know Shaggy, I know, it-it's just that, Madelyn means a lot to me, I mean she is my only sister and she means more to me than you'll ever know" Velma said as she relaxed herself in the arms of her boyfriend.

"I understand Velma, I understand, I feel the same way about Maggie; if anything ever happened to her, I don't know what I would do, I mean she's like Madelyn, she's my only sister after all" Shaggy replied.

"Thanks Shaggy, I really love you" Velma said.

"I know, I really love you too Velma" Shaggy replied.

After a quick kiss between the two of them, the topic quickly changed back to the danger that Vincent Van Ghoul had told the Merlin Brothers about as well as the rest of the staff; although before Vincent could tell them about what was going on, Madelyn wondered what was going on between her sister and her childhood crush.

"Um Velma, Shaggy, what's up between you guys anyway?" Madelyn asked.

"Oh, well Madelyn, some time ago Shaggy and I decided that basically we have a lot in common and we had been friends for such a long time; not to mention, we both decided we had genuine feelings for one another, so we decided to start dating, and eventually things went so well with us that we became boyfriend and girlfriend" Velma replied.

"Oh, that's nice to hear Velma, I'm glad to hear the two of you are getting along so well" Madelyn said, somewhat disappointedly.

"Well now that that's taken care of, hopefully Vincent can tell us about just what's going on around here" Fred remarked.

"Yes, I'm curious to know as well" Whirlen added.

"That's what I want to know as well, and I would also like to know, who, who is that?" Madelyn asked, looking towards the gang and specifically the newest member of Mystery Inc.

"Oh, you mean Flim Flam?" Velma asked.

"Yes that's him, he, he…" Madelyn replied, although fairly soon she became speechless; her eyes locked onto the young black haired member of the group's eyes and within a manner of moments, she looked like a love sick puppy, which Velma noticed.

"Madelyn, Madelyn, what's the matter?" Velma questioned, while her sister walked over and stood next to Flim Flam.

"I think I know what's going on Velma, I think Madelyn's crush on Shaggy is over, and something tells me she's now got a crush on Flim Flam" Daphne replied, although with a somewhat surprised tone in her voice.

"Oh brother, well at least she's gotten over Shaggy rather quickly" Velma quipped.

"Hi" Madelyn said as she leaned over to look at Flim Flam once again, specifically his eyes.

"Um, hi" Flim Flam replied somewhat coyly.

"What's your name?" Madelyn asked.

"His name's Flim Flam Madelyn, and he's Daphne's and mine's adopted son" Fred explained.

"Ah, so that's who he is; you know Flim Flam, you have a really cool name" Madelyn said, moving closer to the black haired young man.

"Thanks, I, uh like your name too, Madelyn right?" Flim Flam asked.

"Right and I'm Velma's sister by the way" Madelyn replied.

"Oh, I see; well if you're anything like Velma, I think we'll get along great Madelyn" Flim Flam remarked.

"Thanks Flim Flam, by the way did my sister ever tell you about why I'm here?" Madelyn asked.

"I think so; she said that you were studying stage magic right?" Flim Flam answered.

"Right and I hear from Velma that you studied real life magic under a warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul right?" Madelyn asked.

"That's correct" Flim Flam replied.

"Wow, that must be so cool, I've always loved magic, in fact that's kind of the reason why I decided to enroll here at the Academy" Madelyn remarked.

"Sounds cool, so what do you and the rest of the students do here at the academy?" Flim Flam asked.

"Well, we learn all kinds of illusions, you name it we probably learn it" Madelyn replied.

"Neat, so why did you want to learn magic anyway?" Flim Flam inquired.

"Well like Velma and mysteries, I like to uncover the secrets of magic and how each trick is done, you know things like that" Madelyn replied.

"Wow, that all sounds really awesome, you must really like magic then if your parents let you attend a school for magicians?" Flim Flam inquired.

"Sure do, my folks are pretty nice; by the way, what about your folks?" Madelyn asked.

"Actually I'm an orphan, although Fred and Daphne are my adoptive parents so they're really the only thing close to parents that I have" Flim Flam replied.

"That stinks, although if Fred and Daphne were my parents, I would be pretty happy; by the way, since you know real magic, I wouldn't mind seeing some of it, do you think you could perform a quick illusion?" Madelyn asked.

"I suppose I could, what do you think Fred and Daphne?" Flim Flam inquired.

"Sure why not, what about you Vincent?" Fred asked.

"That sounds fine to me, in fact maybe Madelyn will want to learn sorcery in addition to stage magic" Vincent replied.

"That's not a bad idea Mr. Van Ghoul, although I can't see my little sister as a sorceress; but if she really wants to do it, why not?" Velma added.

"Thanks you guys, okay Flim Flam, show me what you can do" Madelyn said.

"Okay Madelyn, let me see, why don't we start with something simple, like this" Flim Flam replied as he closed his hands, when he opened them a small dove flied out into the room, which surprised Whirlen Merlin and the rest of the academy's staff.

"My my Flim Flam, that was quite impressive, you know you might a perfect student for our academy that is if you would like to learn more about magic" Whirlen explained.

"Thank you sir; why don't I show Madelyn another trick I learned" Flim Flam replied.

"All right Flim Flam, go right ahead" Whirlen said.

"Okay, here goes" Flim Flam said as he closed his hands together, but this time when he opened them there was a small red rose in the palm of his right hand.

"Neat trick Flim Flam, I wish I could do that" Madelyn replied.

"Thanks Madelyn, oh by the way this is for you" Flim Flam said as he handed the rose to Velma's sister.

"That was really nice of you Flim Flam, and thank you" Madelyn responded as she put the small rose in one of the pockets in her dress.

"You're welcome Madelyn and I was glad you liked it" Flim Flam replied, blushing a little as he spoke.

"Aw, isn't that cute Freddie, I think Flim Flam's blushing" Daphne remarked.

"Yeah, it looks like he is" Fred replied.

"And you know something, judging by the way Flim Flam and Madelyn have been looking at each other since we got here, I think those two are in love" Daphne added.

"Funny, like all the time I thought Madelyn was interested in me, but I guess she's got more in common with Flim Flam, oh well" Shaggy quipped.

"Well, something tells me that having a girlfriend will be great for Flim Flam, and I think having a boyfriend will be great for Madelyn, so let's try and encourage their relationship as much as possible, okay Shaggy?" Velma remarked.

"Sounds good Velms" Shaggy replied.

"So Flim Flam, you're really good at real magic right?" Madelyn questioned.

"Sure am, why?" Flim Flam asked.

"Well, would you like to learn more about stage magic?" Madelyn inquired.

"Are you kidding, of course I would! What about you Madelyn, I mean would you like to learn more about real magic and sorcery?" Flim Flam questioned.

"Of course I would! Actually I think being a sorceress would be really cool" Madelyn replied.

"Sounds good, maybe after all this is over, I can teach you all I know about real magic and maybe you can train with Vincent Van Ghoul, that is if he wants to have you" Flim Flam commented.

"Sounds great and maybe I can teach you about being a stage magician, and you can attend school here, that is if Whirlen Merlin would like you to be a student, what do you think guys?" Madelyn asked.

"Yeah guys I think those are great idea, you think we could do both?" Flim Flam questioned.

"Absolutely Flim Flam and I think Whirlen Merlin will be a great teacher for you, like he was a great teacher for us" Velma said.

"I agree, and I believe Madelyn will make a great pupil, and something tells me she'll be as great a wizard as I am, that is with the right teaching, which I will provide of course" Vincent replied.

"Sounds great Mr. Van Ghoul, although we'll have to let my mother know of this, that is once we finish up with catching the remainder of the 13 ghosts" Velma commented.

"Right, we still don't know what we're up against, so what are we up against Mr. Van Ghoul?" Fred asked.

"Very simple Fred, and now that all of you are here I can share with you what the danger is; you see as I mentioned to the Merlin Brothers and you Velma, according to my equipment and spectral charts, in the last several months I believe I have pinpointed the locations of the remainder of the ghosts from the Demon Chest" Vincent replied.

"Jeepers, what can you tell us about these ghosts Mr. Van Ghoul?" Daphne asked.

"Well for starters, the remainder of the ghosts are led by a spectral being that is the embodiment of evil itself; in my books, the only pictures of him are nothing but shadows or blackness, in other words he is and has been impossible to photograph, even by other wizards" Vincent said.

"Jinkies" Velma replied, trying to fully comprehend what their warlock friend was telling them.

"So do these ghosts have names or any powers that we should know of?" Flim Flam asked.

"Yes Flim Flam, the first is a winged creature called Zoleria, and his powers include the ability to fly and the powers to create ice and snow to use against his enemies, I have pinpointed his location as somewhere in the Canadian province of Quebec, and I strongly suggest that is where you should start your investigation" Vincent replied.

"Sounds like a plan" Fred remarked.

"However" Vincent said.

"However?" Velma asked.

"There's much more that I know and need to share about the remainder of the spirits, in total there are four ghosts that are on the loose and Zoleria is only the first of the ghosts that all of you have to contend with" Vincent explained.

"L-like who are the other ghosts Mr. Van Ghoul" Shaggy replied.

"Yes Shaggy, there are other specters, the second spirit that you need to track down is called Montera, his powers include the ability to create fire and believe me from is said about him in my books, he is very hot to handle; as for the specter's location, I have managed to pinpoint it as somewhere in the Southwestern United States, possibly Oklahoma, Texas or New Mexico" Vincent said.

"Jeepers, he sounds like a tough customer, that's for sure" Daphne replied.

"Yes Daphne, indeed he is; the third of the ghosts that are on the loose is called Lerezia, this final ghost is a female spirit and her powers include the ability to create lightning to use against her enemies, I have also managed to pinpoint her location to be somewhere in Northern Europe, possibly in Scandinavia" Vincent commented.

"Jinkies, Quebec, the Southwest United States and Northern Europe? Looks like we'll be doing some major globe hopping this time around" Velma replied.

"Like it sounds that way to me Velma, but one thing's still bugging me: Vincent, we know you summoned us here, and you mentioned that the school was possibly in danger again, but what I want to know is from what" Shaggy remarked.

"That's true Shaggy, we know about the ghosts and their powers, but we don't know what they want and why they intend to congregate at this castle" Fred replied.

"Yes Vincent, we're all eager to learn what kind of danger the castle is under" Whirlen Merlin commented.

"Very well, I can now tell you the rest of what is in store for all of you from the last few ghosts from the Chest of Demons; you see it all started centuries ago, when I was first starting out as a warlock, I was around the same age as Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy actually when this happened, specifically it was in college" Vincent Van Ghoul stated.

"What happened while you were in college?" Velma asked.

"Well Velma, you may be surprised to learn first of all that I have superiors in the warlock field" the elderly warlock replied.

"Jinkies, you mean there are warlocks more powerful then you?" Velma inquired.

"Right; you see, collectively they are known as the Grand Society of Witches and Warlocks, in fact it is the oldest and largest group of sorcerers and sorceresses in the world; one day many years ago, several centuries ago as a matter of fact, the society saw that there was so much evil, corruption and overall wickedness in the world that they decided to do something about what they saw; so together they created what became known as the Gems of Time, four mystical jewels that when brought together in a certain place at a certain time, would give anyone who possessed them unlimited power" Vincent explained.

"Jeepers! You mean those jewels would make someone all-powerful? Maybe I should check through my jewelry drawer at home and see what I have that could give me magic powers" Daphne remarked.

"Very doubtful Daphne, but go right ahead; you see after escaping from the Chest Of Demons, the spirits from the chest roamed the Earth in search of the jewels, hoping to find them, which if found by these spirits would give them the power to rule the Earth and send the planet into a new Dark Ages, an era of unspeakable darkness and horrors" Vincent commented, sounding quite serious.

"I think I understand, although I still can't get the connection between the jewels and the ghosts, if we know where the ghosts are, then where are the jewels?" Fred wondered.

"Fred, I can answer that; you see when the Grand Society created the jewels they knew they had to keep them safe, so they appointed a pair of guardians to hide them from evil and to make sure that nothing happened to them; which leads me to a secret that I've been hiding from all of you for years" Vincent replied.

"What is it Mr. Van Ghoul, what's the secret?" Daphne asked.

"The secret has to do with the guardians of the gems; because the society was composed of male and female members, two guardians were chosen: one of them was a young warlock who attended Terror Tech and who is standing in this very room, I'm sure you can guess who that is" Vincent replied, taking a deep breath.

"You? Mr. Van Ghoul, you were one of the guardians?" Velma asked, taken somewhat aback at the warlock's statement.

"Correct Velma, I was; but the secret has to do with the other guardian, she was a young witch about the same age as me, with the most beautiful brown hair you could ever imagine, gorgeous green eyes and she would wear the most beautiful cloaks, always maroon and violet if I'm not mistaken; her name was Rebecca Patterson and I met her the first month I attended Terror Tech" Vincent explained, closing his eyes every couple of seconds to picture the young woman.

"Like wow Mr. Van Ghoul, she must have been a very pretty girl" Shaggy replied.

"She was Shaggy; now while I had been on many dates with many girls of all kinds and descriptions at Terror Tech, Rebecca was something else entirely, she was captivating, magnificent, and a wonderfully talented sorceress, in fact in most of the conjuring classes at the school, she was always the top female student" Vincent remarked.

"Jinkies, she sounds like a great person, so what happened to her Mr. Van Ghoul?" Velma asked.

"That leads me to my secret; you see one day I talked to Rebecca, we discussed our favorite spells, incantations, amulets, basically all the things that a young witch and warlock would talk about in school; while we were talking I began looking at her in a way that I never looked at another girl while I was there, I found myself lost in her eyes, and she was lost in mine, so I decided then and there to ask her on a date, which I must say she accepted" Vincent said.

"Vincent, you sly dog, I always knew I had it in you" Flim Flam remarked, smiling at the warlock and the fact that he had a girlfriend.

"Thank You Flim Flam; now, when we had our first date, it was a pardon the pun, magical evening, we went out to dinner, we took a moonlight ride on her broom, it was wonderful; in fact it went so well that we decided to have another date, and we had another and another and soon we were inseparable, so much so that we eventually became boyfriend and girlfriend" Vincent replied.

"Aww, that's really sweet Mr. Van Ghoul, what happened next?" Daphne said, holding her hands together near her face as she spoke.

"Well eventually we became so inseparable that we both realized we were in love, and one day about six months after we met, we got married, it was a wonderful ceremony and we both had such a fun time, which now brings us to the other guardian; after the Grand Society saw that we had gotten along so well, they decided to make Rebecca a guardian as well, so we became the co-guardians of the Gems of Time" Vincent replied.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, we had no idea you were married and to a woman who sounds like she was the perfect match for you, so what happened to her?" Fred asked.

"That has to do with the final few ghosts from the Chest; many years after the jewels were created, I discovered that there was a chance that the specters and spirits may try to harm Rebecca in order to get the jewels so she and I hid them from the demons of the chest, just in case they tried to get their hands on them" Vincent replied.

"Good idea Mr. Van Ghoul, but what happened to Rebecca?" Velma inquired.

"It's simple, when I discovered that she and the jewels were in danger, Rebecca and I agreed that she would go into hiding while I stayed behind at my castle in the Himalayas to keep an eye on the situation; she must have hidden well, because I haven't heard from her in some time, but I have a feeling that she might be in danger once again, if the final remaining ghosts from the Chest are roaming about" Vincent replied.

"I'll bet; so Mr. Van Ghoul, what can you tell us about the jewels and their hiding places?" Fred inquired.

"Yes and what are these jewels?" Daphne added.

"You see the four gems represent four different elements of the Earth and four of the most abundant types of jewels in the world: the sapphire, which represents sky and water, the ruby which represents fire and the sun, the emerald which represents the forests and various terrains of the planet, and finally the diamond, the most priceless jewel on the planet, which also represents the purity and light the Earth gives day in and day out" Vincent explained.

"What about the gems locations Mr. Van Ghoul?" Velma asked.

"Well luckily I was able to put a mystic tracker on each gem before I magically transported them to the four corners of the Earth; from my tracking equipment and radar I have determined that the Emerald is somewhere in the province of Quebec in the country of Canada, the ruby is somewhere in the Southwest United States, the diamond is somewhere in Northern Europe and the sapphire is somewhere on the grounds of this very school" Vincent replied.

"I get it, so three of the gems are located where the ghosts form the Demon Chest are located" Fred commented.

"Exactly, and the fourth gem is somewhere on the grounds of the magic school" Vincent added.

"Any idea where this sapphire is Mr. Van Ghoul?" Fred asked.

"That I do not know Fred; it could be anywhere, in any room…" Vincent replied; suddenly Vincent stopped speaking and he held his hands to both sides of his head.

"Like what's the matter Mr. Van Ghoul?" Shaggy asked.

"I don't know Shaggy, I-I can feel vibrations coming from somewhere in this room" Vincent replied.

"Vibrations? Jeepers, like what Mr. Van Ghoul?" Daphne inquired.

"You see Daphne as a mystic in touch with the powers of the occult, the supernatural and the macabre I can sometimes feel the vibrations of certain beings, or certain objects" Vincent explained.

"Like you mean sort of like a fortune teller right Mr. Van Ghoul?" Shaggy asked.

"In a way Shaggy, in a way; however when I get a vibration it is truer and more powerful then what a fortune teller would go through" Vincent replied.

"Jeepers, Mr. Van Ghoul do you think the vibrations might be coming from the first of the Gems of Time?" Daphne inquired.

"It's possible Daphne, it's possible; because of the powers of the jewels, and because they were created by some of the most powerful witches and warlocks on earth, the vibrations coming from the jewels would make them easy to track down" Vincent replied as he began walking around the room attempting to locate the jewel.

The powerful mystic then moved over to the desk that Whirlen Merlin had been sitting at earlier and placed his hands on the sides of his head once more; Scooby Doo and company were a little confused as to why their warlock friend had done this, after all: what magical object or objects could be hidden in an ordinary desk? Although considering their history with Vincent Van Ghoul, Scooby and his friends knew that when Vincent was onto something, he was usually right.

Vincent Van Ghoul then stood in front of the desk looking almost as if he was in a trance of some kind, the members of Mystery Inc. found themselves curiously watching their magical comrade, trying to figure out just why he had such a strange look on his face, finally after what seemed like hours but in reality was only a few moments the warlock open the drawer of the desk and looked through the items inside.

"Vincent, are you sure the sapphire is in my desk?" Whirlen Merlin asked.

"Trust us Whirlen, Vincent knows when he's looking for a mystic item" Daphne replied.

"If you say so Daphne, if you say so" Whirlen remarked, still looking a little confused.

A few moments after Vincent Van Ghoul had commenced his search, he began smiling and a few seconds later the powerful warlock pulled out a flawless blue gem that seemed to sparkle in the over head lights of the Merlin Brothers office; as the great warlock held the blue jewel in the palm of his hand, Scooby and friends could tell right away that it was more then an average ordinary jewel, specifically when Velma gazed at it, it seemed to her that the jewel was so unblemished that it seemed to be unaffected by the passage of time, which in fact it hadn't.

"Jinkies, Mr. Van Ghoul is that the one of the gems of time?" Velma asked.

"Yes Velma, it is the very first of the jewels; the sapphire, as I explained before it represents the skies and the water of the Earth, and it is the jewel that the ghosts from the chest must possess to gain the power to rule the world" Vincent replied.

"Like t-that's not good, although if we have the jewel doesn't that we're in the clear?" Shaggy asked nervously.

"Yes and no Shaggy; even though we do have the jewel for now, those ghosts will stop at nothing to get it, which means none of you are safe until this mystery is solved, all the ghosts are captured and the jewels are found; now you must get going immediately before those ghosts find you, and try to capture you and the jewels" Vincent replied.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, like won't we need the Chest of Demons to capture the ghosts in when we catch them?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes Shaggy, that's an excellent idea; actually I have it with me right now, if you will wait a few moments I can get it" Vincent replied; Shaggy was a little confused as the warlock turned around and faced the walls of the office, a few moments later the warlock produced a small plume of white smoke and when he turned around he held the demon chest in his arms, which amazed the teen sleuths and their companions.

"Vincent, that was very impressive, how did you do that?" Whirlen asked.

"Simple, first off I never reveal my secrets like any good magician and second, I happened to bring it with me" Vincent replied.

"Like that makes sense" Shaggy responded.

"So I guess that means we should get going to track down those ghosts huh?" Flim Flam asked.

"Yes Flim Flam, that is a good idea; and I believe it would be a good idea for Madelyn to go with all of you on your quest" Vincent replied.

"But Mr. Van Ghoul, wouldn't Madelyn be safer here at the school then with us?" Velma asked.

"No, not really; you see since the school is the place where the ghosts are going to congregate, and since the teachers and staff are coming with me, I believe that the safest place for Madelyn is with you and your friends Velma" Vincent explained.

"OK Mr. Van Ghoul, if you insist; I just hope we can keep an eye on Madelyn and keep her safe from harm" Velma replied.

"Don't worry Velma, I'll watch over Madelyn too and I won't let anything happen to her" Flim Flam said as he smiled at Madelyn.

"Thanks Flim Flam, you know I really think we're going to become great friends on this adventure, and who knows maybe we'll become more than friends" Madelyn replied as she smiled at Flim Flam.

"Yeah, I'd like that" Flim Flam remarked.

While Flim Flam and Madelyn continued looking at each other's faces and into each other's eyes Vincent Van Ghoul then cleared his throat and began speaking to the group once again.

"I hate to break up such a nice scene, but it's time for you seven to start your journey; and more importantly I need to…" Vincent said, however he cut himself off in mid-sentence because as soon as he began speaking he and everyone else inside the castle could feel a strong rumbling sound, similar to lightning but a lot louder; as the noise began to permeate throughout the school Fred and Daphne held on tightly to each other, as did Shaggy and Velma, and Flim Flam and Madelyn, each couple wondering just what was happening in the magic school.

"Jinkies! W-what's happening?" Velma asked somewhat uneasily.

"I have a feeling that the seven of you are about to encounter the final spirit from the Chest of Demons" Vincent replied, although being a warlock he was more used to this kind of supernatural terror then the gang; a few tense moments later, each light in the school went out one by one, which led Vincent Van Ghoul to command Mystery Inc., and the teachers and staff of the school to make sure they had everything they needed and then follow him through the halls of the castle.

During the next several minutes hundreds of panicked students, who were packing and heard and felt the noise as well as witnessing the lights going out streamed down the staircases and followed Vincent, the staff and the team of sleuths outside the castle onto the front lawn of the structure; once everyone was outside they noticed that an immense black cloud, almost similar in appearance to a thick fog covered the grounds of the school, but that wasn't what was causing the noise, in fact the gang and Vincent were soon about to discover what the source of the noise was and the appearance of the 13th and final ghost from the sinister Chest of Demons.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby Doo, Flim Flam and Madelyn Dinkley, as well as every student and staff member at the Whirlen Brothers School of Magic, and the gang's warlock ally Vincent Van Ghoul could only watch in stunned silence as the immense black cloud that covered the grounds of the school seemed to grow larger and larger in stature.

Several agonizing minutes later the cloud began to take shape, and what a shape it was. The large black cloud had transformed into a creature almost 100 feet tall with sharp black claws for hands, dark purple wings coming out of his back and two small white horns coming out of his head as well.

The mysterious and frightening creature also had skin that seemed to be as black as the night itself and piercing red eyes which seemed to tear right through the gang, that is if eyes could do such a thing as that.

Once the creature had finished taking shape he gazed over at Vincent, the members of Mystery Inc. and everyone else who was at the school and began chuckling evilly. He then began breathing heavily and seemed to blow a ghostly white mist at the gang, as if he was smoking an unseen cigarette, or if the day was bitter cold.

For some reason the strange ghostly mist didn't seem to bother the intrepid sleuths, or Vincent Van Ghoul at all. The reason for this was because if any of the gang, or Vincent were to show fear on any of their faces at all, the creature would see it and would figure that the members of Mystery Inc. were weak.

Usually the gang might show a little bit of fear, because they were facing some kook in a Halloween mask. But this wasn't one of the group's regular cases at all, because if Mystery Inc. didn't solve this one, the world as we know it could very well come to a crashing end.

This fact was becoming quite apparent as the creature stood only a few feet away from everyone, and found itself eyeing the sleuths and the warlock up and down. Scooby and friends weren't quite sure why he was doing this, but in their minds it was clear that he was making sure these adolescents, their dog and the powerful wizard would not be a challenge to them in any and all ways.

After making mental notes on each of the gang, the students of the school, and Vincent Van Ghoul, the creature seemed to grin evilly. Just by looking at their appearances, the only one of the group who might be a threat was Vincent Van Ghoul; however, that fact could easily be remedied by showing his dark power, and within a few minutes the warlock would be easily destroyed.

Once he made mental notes about everyone, he made the decision to make his full presence known. When he did though, the members of Mystery Incorporated and their comrades could swear that they were staring into the face of pure evil, which at the moment was only a mere single digit number of feet away.

"So, you are the mortals who intend to place me back in that accursed Chest of Demons?" the creature asked, with a large booming voice.

As he spoke the gang shivered in terror, watching every move the creature was making and every word he was speaking to them. He seemed to be impressed that he had made such an impact on the team of sleuths, who were wondering just what he had in store for all of them.

Finally, after what seemed like several eternities, the deafly silence was broken as the demon spoke once more.

"Hmm… interesting group of mortals, and a dog to boot. Well no matter, I have lived for thousands of years and brought darkness and misery to many places, and here will be no different. For I am the living embodiment and the spirit of evil and darkness itself, I cannot be stopped and I will not be stopped! Do you hear me? No one, not a mortal and not a sorcerer can stop me!" the creature said as he laughed menacingly.

"You're wrong!" a male voice said, with venom in his voice.

The members of Mystery Inc. each looked around and tried to figure out who would challenge this beast. Finally, they all noticed that Fred himself had formed his hand into a fist and seemed ready to clock the creature in its face, if it had one that is.

"What did you say mortal?" the creature asked, growling and hissing as he spoke.

The blond young adult and unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. stepped forward to face the evil being, while he held Daphne's hand. Once the two of them stepped forward, Velma and Shaggy did the exact same thing as the blond and the red head, right down to them holding hands.

But that wasn't all, as Madelyn and Flim Flam followed suit and stepped forward, while holding hands as well. Next, each member of the staff of the Merlin Brothers school stepped forward; once they were all joined with the gang, Vincent Van Ghoul moved forward, causing the creature to glare at them with a devilish look on his face.

If you were to look at the group of sleuths and their friends, it would seem that they were staring down the creature, while looking and feeling quite determined. This fact seemed to ring true to the members of Mystery Incorporated, as Fred Jones decided to speak once again, in hopes of possibly talking some sense into this evil being.

"I said you're wrong. I will stop you, my friends will stop you, everyone here will stop you, and as a team we will defeat you and send you back to the Chest of Demons where you belong!" Fred declared, sounding as serious as he had ever been.

Soon the rest of the gang, Vincent and the staff of the Merlin Brothers School began to speak up echoing the statements of their blond comrade, although it was becoming apparent to all involved that the creature had heard enough as he decided to speak again.

"Silence!" the creature bellowed as lightning flashed across the sky while the being's twisted smile turned to a look of displeasure.

"Very well, since you believe you can stop me, I will let you all go on this little quest of yours to recover the jewels of the ages. But know and remember this: I will be watching and my minions will be attempting to stop you every step of the way; oh yes, and I will be making this little school my home for quite a while, I kind of like it here." the creature added as flashes of lightning could be seen throughout the sky.

"Now, I shall take my perch inside the castle and leave you for the moment. But remember: none of you will be safe from now on, I will be in your dreams and nightmares, you will be never be alone, and you will never stop me from taking my place as ruler of the Earth!" the creature bellowed as he laughed menacingly.

Suddenly the creature's from began turning into a black cloud and within a few minutes it had entered the castle. This meant that so far, the creature had fulfilled part of his plan: to take over the Whirlen Brothers school for its home base.

"Jinkies that was the 13th ghost?" Velma asked, shaking a little as she spoke, although she was steadied by her boyfriend Shaggy which alleviated her nervousness a bit.

"Yes Velma, that was the thirteenth ghost; and judging by his appearance he will not be easily defeated." Vincent replied.

"Like isn't there any way on Earth we can beat him?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes Shaggy there is. If the seven of you can retrieve the other three jewels of the ages, bring them back here to the castle to a certain spot in the building and manage to avoid the creature and his minions, it will give you the power to defeat the final spirit from the Chest and trap him inside the chest for good." Vincent explained.

"But why a certain spot in the building?" Velma asked.

"Because now that the creature inhabits this building, as a result his weakness is also exposed. Somewhere in that castle, there is a spot where if all four jewels are brought together they would give the people that found them unlimited magical powers, powers that if used for good, could bring great joy to the world and decades of prosperity and peace, which is why you need to find them before the ghosts do." Vincent replied.

"I get it, if we find the jewels then we can defeat the ghosts, but if they find them they could destroy the school and rule the world." Velma responded.

"Yes Velma, unfortunately you are correct. However, those magical powers could come in handy, because if a mortal were to use them properly the creature wouldn't stand a chance, he would be a sitting duck, to use a mortal cliché. That being said, you must find them before he and his minions do." Vincent replied.

"Don't worry Mr. Van Ghoul, we'll find those ghosts and the jewels first. By the way, where is the first jewel?" Fred asked.

"I have it right here with me Fred, I managed to hide it from the creature; oh, by the way here." Vincent said as he brought out the jewel and tossed it to Fred who caught it.

"Thanks Mr. Van Ghoul; so I would assume that we need to keep track of these right?" Fred asked.

"Correct, put it in your pocket, or the Mystery Machine's glove compartment, or wherever you keep important things, just make sure and keep it safe" Vincent replied.

"Right Mr. Van Ghoul; so I guess we should be heading off to Quebec to track down that emerald and the first ghost right?" Fred inquired.

"Correct Fred. I also know you are wondering about the teachers, staff and students of the school, but you needn't feel nervous, my castle has more than enough rooms to hold everyone here" Vincent explained.

"But like how are you going transport all of these people from here to your castle, including yourself?" Shaggy asked.

"Magic of course Shaggy; after all I am powerful enough to cast a spell that will transport all of us to my castle, excluding the seven of you of course. Now I would suggest all of you depart immediately, because the sooner you all get started on your search, the sooner those jewels can be found and the ghosts can be captured" Vincent replied.

"Right, Mr. Van Ghoul, come on gang let's head to the Mystery Machine and for Quebec" Fred explained.

The blond young adult and his friends then walked the short distance to where the Mystery Machine was parked. Next the seven of them entered the vehicle, and after Fred unlocked the doors within a few moments the psychedelically painted van sped away in search of the Jewels of the Ages, and the final four ghosts from the Chest of Demons.

Once the van vanished from sight, Vincent Van Ghoul raised his arms to the heavens, said some mystical words and soon a large plume of gray smoke surrounded the staff and students of the Whirlen Brothers School. Vincent then informed everyone not to be nervous because this was part of the spell, and within several more minutes after the plume surrounded the staff and students, the smoke vanished from sight.

Several minutes later the plume of gray smoke appeared, only this time inside a large, imposing and gothic looking structure in the Himalayan Mountains, specifically the castle of one Vincent Van Ghoul. After the warlock told everyone about the castle, its rooms and its history he informed the staff to escort the students around the castle to look for rooms to stay in during the duration of their time there.

With the staff and students all safe and sound, Vincent Van Ghoul walked into his study, pulled up a chair at a large wooden table, where there was a crystal ball in a claw shaped holder sitting on it.

The Warlock then relaxed in the chair and took a deep breath. He had succeeded in his mission so far, which was to inform Mystery Inc. of what they needed to accomplish and point them in the right direction of the ghosts and the jewels.

As he sat back in his chair he hoped and prayed that the team of sleuths and their Great Dane could locate the jewels and ghosts. Once they did that, he hoped they could put them where they belonged for all eternity and most importantly stop the specters from the Demon Chest before they did irreversible harm to the planet Earth.

Meanwhile on an interstate in the Northeastern portion of the United States, a familiar vehicle could be seen passing by cars, trucks, other vehicles and the various scenery of that particular portion of the country.

Ever since leaving the Whirlen Brothers School, the various members of Mystery Inc. with the exception of Scooby, Flim Flam and Madelyn had taken turns at the wheel of the van as it continued to roll on towards the Great White North and the first jewel of the ages, as well as the first of the final few ghosts from the Chest of Demons.

Knowing that Mystery Inc. had no time to waste to capture the ghosts, they decided to drive straight through without making many stops. This would seem a bit difficult at first, considering that even sleuths needed sleep, although the way things were set up most of the group would rest while one of the four members drove.

All of this of course meant that each of the member of the gang, were able to get a full night's sleep. All while the Mystery Machine continued to make its way to Quebec, which they hoped would pass without much, if any incidents.

About a day and a half into the gang's journey, the team of sleuths were 100 or so miles into the state of New York and Fred was at the wheel of the Mystery Machine. While he guided the colorfully painted van through the highways of the Empire State, in the back seat of the vehicle Shaggy and Velma after resting for about six hours had decided to awaken and had decided to speak with one another to pass the time.

"Velma?" Shaggy asked.

"Yes Shaggy?" Velma inquired.

"Do you really think we can catch these ghosts from the Chest and find these jewels of time, or whatever they're called?" Shaggy asked as he looked into Velma's eyes.

"Shaggy, of course we can stop the ghosts and find the jewels, in fact I'm positive that we'll be taking another ghost and mystery free vacation soon and that this nightmare will all soon be over." Velma replied as she took Shaggy's hand and softly ran her fingers atop it.

"Velma, something tells me you're right. You know as a matter of fact, you're right about a lot of things Vel, and maybe that's the reason why, well maybe that's the reason why I fell in love with you" Shaggy said, holding onto Velma's hand while he smiled and looked into her eyes.

"Is that the only reason why you fell in love with me Shaggy?" Velma asked dreamily.

"No, that's not the only reason. I think another reason why I fell in love with you is because you're so darn cute, and your freckles are really cute too, not to mention you're so beautiful and intelligent, and just a wonderful girl altogether." Shaggy replied.

"Shaggy, that is so sweet. I think those are most of the same reasons why I fell in love with you too, I mean you have the most handsome looking hair, and you're so honest with people, even when you're scared or hungry. I mean I've always thought you and Scooby were heroes, and I think you've always had the soul of a poet in you, I mean you're so gentle and loving, you're just a wonderful guy too." Velma explained, as the two young adults looked into each other's eyes.

"Thanks Velma, you know I'm glad we're together; I've always loved you ever since we were kids and I guess now that we're an official couple, I couldn't be happier." Shaggy replied.

"Me too Shaggy, me too; I always dreamed of this and now it's coming true, to tell the truth when I was a little girl I would always think of science and books, but every now and then my parents would tell me a story, like fairy tales. Even though I was an intelligent girl and not many guys would like me because of that, I still dreamed of being a princess or a girl in a fairy tale and having my prince by my side; now that dream has come true, I have my prince" Velma remarked.

"And I have my princess, and I wouldn't have it any other way" Shaggy replied.

"Thank you Shaggy, that was very nice of you to say; you know, speaking of romance: take a look at what my sister and Flim Flam are up to." Velma responded as she pointed to a corner of the van where the black haired young man was sleeping, with Madelyn's head resting on his chest and his hand on her shoulder.

"Aww, like that is very cute; you know Velma, I think Mr. Van Ghoul was right, I think a girlfriend is just what Flim Flam needs" Shaggy replied.

"I agree and I think Flim Flam and Madelyn make the perfect couple, just like us." Velma answered.

"Mmm-hmm" Shaggy replied as he and Velma continued smiling at each other and looking into each other's eyes.

The bespectacled young woman and the cowardly young man had been friends for many years now. On every adventure or mystery they went on it was apparent that their relationship and bond of friendship seemed to grow stronger, and judging by the looks on each of their faces as they spoke to each other nothing would ever break them apart.

Inside the Mystery Machine the occupants of the van that were awake could see the white lines of the highway whizzing past through the windows of the colorfully painted car. The inside of the vehicle was relatively quiet for the next five or six hours as it continued its journey to America's neighbor to the North, although while the Mystery Machine continued towards Quebec the thoughts of each member of Mystery Inc. ran the gamut from romance to the current adventure to the future, all in all it was an interesting journey from the Merlin Brothers Academy to the great white north, which would soon come to an end.

Around 2 PM in the afternoon, after entering Canada a few hours previously the Mystery Machine and its inhabitants found themselves in the province of Quebec, one of the largest provinces in the country of Canada; for the most part Quebec was like any other province in Canada or state in United States, because for the most part the gang drove past farms, silos and miles and miles of wide open spaces.

However the quiet drive of the Mystery Machine was about to be broken, for as the van pulled into a small city in Southeast Quebec the Crystal Ball that Vincent Van Ghoul had given the detectives and that was still in the Mystery Machine after the group's first encounter with the Chest of Demons began ringing. While she sat down in the passengers seat of the front of the van Daphne could hear said crystal's ringing coming from somewhere in the front of the Mystery Machine, the only question was where, finally Daphne realized that she had left the Crystal in the glove compartment and opened it.

Naturally as she expected when she opened the compartment the Crystal Ball was still ringing, which meant that she needed to answer it and soon, because as the gang had realized over the years there was one thing you never ever wanted to do and that was to keep Vincent Van Ghoul waiting for any period of time; once the red head retrieved the Crystal, its glow had gotten each member of Mystery Inc.'s immediate attention as the rest of the group looked on to see what their warlock ally was about to tell them.

"Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy are all of you there?" Vincent asked as his picture was displayed throughout the van via holographic projection.

"Yes Mr. Van Ghoul, we're all here and by the way, that new holographic projector is amazing, it even looks like you're standing in the back of the van with us" Velma replied, somewhat stunned as she looked upon the picture of the great warlock.

The bespectacled sleuth was amazed that the projection looked quiote life like and seemed almost to be a real person, of course it was similar to 3-D technology which meant that while to the gang it looked as if Vincent was in the van, in reality he was thousands of miles away in his castle.

"Thank you Velma, I'm glad you like it. Actually, come to think of it, I probably should have upgraded my technology here in the castle years ago, now how is your journey to recovering the first of the gems going?" Vincent asked.

"Fairly well Mr. Van Ghoul, we're in the Southeastern portion of Quebec right now and we've been waiting for you to contact us to give us further instructions on where to find the first ghost and the first jewel." Velma replied.

"Excellent, so far all of you have done very well; according to all of my electronic equipment here in the castle, you are within range of the first of the 13th ghost's minions" Vincent explained.

"Like within range? Is he electronic?" Shaggy quipped, before chuckling a little.

"Shaggy" Velma replied, with a fairly serious look on her face.

"Sorry Velma; like go ahead and continue Mr. Van Ghoul" Shaggy remarked.

"Thank you Shaggy; now, according to my GPS system and spectral radar, you seven are currently outside of the city of Neumichan, I can also see that there is a heavy concentration of ghostly activity inside the city limits, and judging by the way my instruments are acting, there is a high possibility that Zoleria is somewhere inside the city" Vincent replied.

"Mr. Van Ghoul, if Zoleria is in the city limits then does that mean we'll encounter him here?" Fred asked from the front seat of the van.

"It's quite possible Fred, and I would watch your step if I were you; from reading about these ghosts, they are all quite powerful and all of them should not be taken lightly, not even one of them" Vincent replied.

"Don't worry Mr. Van Ghoul, we'll be careful; so once we arrive in Neumichan, what should be our first step?" Fred inquired.

"Hmm… since all of you have been solving mysteries for so long, I would imagine that you have a plan to catch the ghost, so I would suggest going with whatever plan the seven of you have in mind" Vincent replied.

"Well, we were thinking about going to the mayor of the city, maybe he would know something about this ghost and where he might be located" Fred explained.

"Good thinking Fred, usually public officials are a good source for information on the city and things such as this. Now, I would suggest getting to work in catching this spirit once and for all, and remember the first jewel is also in the city where you are as well, and it could be anywhere." Vincent replied.

"Right Mr. Van Ghoul, we'll get going immediately" Fred noted.

With that the powerful warlock wished the group well, and the team of sleuths were left with their own thoughts once again, as they prepared to tackle the first of the thirteenth ghost's minions; meanwhile in Vincent Van Ghoul's castle, the warlock sat back at a desk, with a large book open to a page which pictured the final and most powerful spirit from the Demon Chest, however he was soon to have company as a familiar blond haired gentleman tapped him on the shoulder, which caused the wizard to turn around, however standing behind him was one Whirlen Merlin, who was curious to know what Vincent was doing.

"How goes the ghost hunting Vincent?" Whirlen asked.

"Well, I just spoke with Madelyn's sister and the rest of Mystery Inc., they're currently in Quebec, looking for the first jewel and the first minion of the Thirteenth spirit from the Chest." Vincent replied.

"Ah, I see; what about Madelyn? Is she all right?" Whirlen asked.

"She's perfectly fine Whirlen, you have my word as a warlock; and judging by what I could see in the Mystery Machine via my holographic projector, it looks like one of your best students Madelyn is really getting attached to my pupil Flim Flam" Vincent replied.

"You don't say? Well, I think this might be wonderful for the both of them, Flim Flam seems like a young man who likes magic, and Madelyn is one of my best students, so maybe Madelyn's personality will rub off on him" Whirlen remarked.

"Yes, or maybe Flim Flam's personality will rub off on Madelyn; I can only imagine what that will be like" Vincent replied, picturing Madelyn as a trickster, a la Flim Flam, which was an image the wizard quickly shook off.

"I don't know about that, but I do believe they make a great couple; who knows, maybe we'll be invited to their wedding one day" Whirlen remarked.

"Well, we'll certainly see about that Whirlen, but if they do get married, I hope we get to come; of course, first things first, Scooby Doo and his friends must capture the thirteenth ghost and his minions, before the entire world becomes a place of unspeakable horrors and nightmares" Vincent said as he continued to peer at the picture of the thirteenth ghost.

Thousands of miles away meanwhile at the building that once was, and still is home to the Whirlen Brothers Academy of Magic, the sinister presence of the thirteenth ghost from the infamous Chest of Demons was making himself right at home, in one of the castle's media rooms, where he watched a few dozens television monitors with nothing on them, which made him quite pleased.

"Ahh, my powers have caused those foolish enough to stay here to flee the premises, and the staff have apparently listened to my warnings as well. Unfortunately, there's still the matter of those meddling mortals and their mutt, if what my fellow ghosts from the Chest of Demons have told me from their communications, then they will be quite difficult to defeat, especially with the gems that I have been after for so long; and that meddling mystic Vincent Van Ghoul doesn't make things easier for me either, I think I should check in on my first assistant, just to make sure he doesn't foul things up like Bogel and Weerd did for the other ghosts from the chest." the thirteenth ghost remarked to no one in particular.

"Frankly locking those two up in solitary confinement was the best thing the head of SAPS could do, they deserve it for their constant bungling; now, let me check on my ghostly brethren." the sprit said as he walked over to the bank of monitors and passed his hand over them; a few moments later, the pictures on each monitor switched from the security system for the castle to a small city in Canada, where Scooby Doo and friends currently resided, and where the first of the thirteen ghost's helpers would be found.

"Zoleria? Are you there? Come in Zoleria" the thirteenth spirit asked, while banging on the bank of TV monitors; finally a creature with bright blue wings, light blue skin and a yellow tint to it's hair, if you could call what this creature had hair that is, came on the screen, the creature was anxious to know why his superior had called him and stood by ready to speak to the powerful ghost.

"I'm here, I'm here; what's up?" Zoleria asked.

"Zoleria, I want you to keep an eye out for four mortals named Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, along with a canine named Scooby Doo, and two younger mortals named Flim Flam and Madelyn" the thirteenth spirit replied.

"How come boss?" Zoleria inquired.

"Because, these mortals and their canine were sent by Vincent Van Ghoul to investigate your appearance in Quebec and to capture you in that accursed Chest of Demons forever" the thirteenth ghost replied.

"But I don't want to go back to the Chest boss, I like it in Quebec, I've even picked up Ice Hockey a little and man I have to tell you, those Montreal Canadiens are something else, you know they call them the Habs here in Quebec?" Zoleria responded.

"I don't care about Hockey you fool! I want you to watch your step, these mortals are very capable ghost catchers and I don't think you want to be captured by them" the thirteenth ghost replied, banging his hand on the table, even though he was a ghost, he did grimace a bit.

"R-right boss, I'll try and scare those mortals off my trail, don't worry, you can count on me!" Zoleria remarked nervously, as he was afraid of what the thirteenth ghost could to do him.

"Good, I hope I can, now get going!" the sinister spirit replied as the thirteenth ghost passed his hand over the monitors again and this time they returned to their normal picture.

Back in Quebec, Mystery Inc. had decided to follow through on their plan and at the moment the Mystery Machine was parked in front of the mayor of Neumichan's office.

The office was located in a one story building tucked away on a side street in the eastern portion of the city, surrounded by various shops, a small motel and a few restaurants. Inside the building, the mayor of the city, a black haired man named Roger Fowler sits at his desk while the rest of the team of sleuths have found chairs and a sofa to sit on as they speak with the small town's leader about the first of the thirteenth ghost's minions.

"Mayor Fowler, what can you tell us about this spirit that's been plaguing Neumichan?" Fred questioned.

"A great deal, I'm afraid. The spirit first appeared in our city about three years ago, and he's been able to escape any and all detection for several years now." The mayor replied.

"Mr. Fowler, like you can't be serious. No ghost that I've ever seen has been able to avoid capture for several years; I mean there has to be a reason why he hasn't been captured yet." Shaggy remarked.

"I'm with Shaggy on this one. This ghost couldn't possibly be that clever, or that elusive." Velma replied.

"Well unfortunately all our efforts to capture this spirit have proven unsuccessful up to this point. All the money, all the time and effort, all the consultants and supernatural experts we've brought in, nothing has seemed to work!" Mayor Fowler declared, banging his hand on his desk yet again.

"Man, your medical bills must be sky high if you keep banging your hand on the desk like that." Flim Flam said, in a slightly joking sort of way.

"Believe me young man, you don't want to see my medical bills since this spirit has started haunting the area." Mayor Fowler replied, as he got up from behind his desk and walked over to a nearby window.

"This ghost business has all of our residents spooked like you wouldn't believe. In the last year for example, tourism has gone down almost 75 percent; some residents are afraid to even go out on the streets, much less spend money here." The mayor continued, as he remained in the same spot, while the members of Mystery Inc. could hear all his comments.

"What kind of tourism Mr. Fowler?" Daphne inquired.

"Our town was founded in the late 1700s. In those early years, our main industry was fishing; then, as the years passed, we became a center for the paper and timber industry. Actually, some of the shops, and a few hotels are still standing from that era, slightly remodeled of course." Mr. Fowler replied.

"It sounds like a beautiful place to live. Other then the ghost of course." Madelyn responded.

"That reminds me, what kind of ghost are we dealing with here?" Velma asked.

"What do you mean?" Mayor Fowler inquired.

"If we knew what kind of ghost we were dealing with, it might help us in our investigation." Fred replied.

"Hmm… I guess I can give you some information. This particular spirit is a large creature with bright light blue wings if I had to guess, as well as light blue skin and a yellow tint to it's hair, or whatever that thing has on top of its head." Mayor Fowler responded.

"Sounds pretty frightening. However, I have no doubt the six of us put together can handle this creature easily." Fred replied, with significant confidence in his voice.

"I certainly hope so young man, for the sake of this town, this province, this country, and this world." Mayor Fowler responded, with a sense of uneasiness in his voice, which was something the young sleuths noticed.

"Mr. Fowler?" Velma asked.

"Yes?" Mayor Fowler responded, with a question of his own.

"I noticed you seem kind of nervous when you talk about this ghost. And I was wondering why that was." Velma replied.

"Well my dear, yes I am a bit nervous. And I have good reason to be nervous about this spirit." Mayor Fowler responded.

"Why?" Velma inquired.

"Because if this ghost continues to be in this community, and continues to show his ugly face, and does what he does, I might have no choice but to start proceedings to file bankruptcy for this city, or even seek federal funding to help our citizens." Mayor Fowler explained.

"That seems kind of extreme for a simple ghost attack Mr. Mayor." Shaggy replied.

"It may seem extreme young man, but right now I'm at my wit's end. I really have no idea what to do about this ghost problem." Mayor Fowler continued, before taking a deep breath as he walked back to his desk and sat down once more.

If it wasn't clear already to Mystery Incorporated that the mayor of this small Canadian town was worried about his community and what might have happened if the gang hadn't come, it was certainly clear now that this wouldn't be some simple unmasking of a villain.

This time, Mystery Inc. was in for the greatest test of their lives, one that every member of the group hoped they would pass with flying colors.

**Author's Notes: Sorry for the long period of not updating this. I'm still writing and I will be updating this and my other stories whenever possible (which hopefully will be a lot sooner then before); thanks for staying with me everybody.**


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